Roe tasting bitter

[long_range_rob]

Plus one on acorns tainting the meat.

 

[Mungo]

Yes, With a big Acorn year in the winter pigeons hover them up (seen 19) in one crop, shot muntjac with them in and bet an bet in the big woodlands roe and fallow will eat them.

Acorn is very bitter (tannin) I think,

I can imagine acorn being extremely bitter, and that it would affect the meat.

Yet it’s common on the continent to keep pigs on acorns - lots of the really high end cured hams like iberico come from acorn fed pigs. Must be some difference in the way the different species process the tannins.

 

[kieran222]

I have noticed a smell of wild garlic from deer when gralloching them in certain areas in the spring but never really noticed any difference in taste.

 

[VSS]

I can imagine acorn being extremely bitter, and that it would affect the meat.

Yet it’s common on the continent to keep pigs on acorns - lots of the really high end cured hams like iberico come from acorn fed pigs. Must be some difference in the way the different species process the tannins.

It also depends on when the acorns are consumed, ie, whether they're green off the tree or dry and fallen.
Green acorns can be quite toxic to ruminants due to the tannin levels, but dry brown ones are OK in moderation. Pigs don't seem to be affected, and dry acorns can make up a large part of their diet without any ill effects.
The risk to ruminants generally occurs when an oak tree laden with unripe acorns blows over so they can reach them and gorge on them. It can make them pretty sick, and I would imagine the flavour of the meat would be affected.

Incidentally, I shot a CWD in a stagnant marshy area and the meat was rank.

 

[Freeforester]

Maybe the sheep are more selective with what they eat? Or eat less heather?

A cursory inspection of the rumen might show that there's a lot more than only heather plants in their diet, or that is certainly the case here in west Aberdeenshire, where they positively thrive on managed moorland. Regional variations may also apply.

White hare and grouse are to some, the finest of eating.

 

[Ratel]

Eaten a fair few Fallow who have been dining on acorns but never noticed any taint even when the acorns were green, just had a bit of loin exquisite

 

[Mungo]

A cursory inspection of the rumen might show that there's a lot more than only heather plants in their diet, or that is certainly the case here in west Aberdeenshire, where they positively thrive on managed moorland. Regional variations may also apply.

White hare and grouse are to some, the finest of eating.

Hare I’ll agree.

Always found grouse to be very mediocre.

 

[Mungo]

Eaten a fair few Fallow who have been dining on acorns but never noticed any taint even when the acorns were green, just had a bit of loin exquisite

Hard to beat a fat young fallow deer in early autumn.